BATON ROUGE - Among the other things that stood out at LSU's football practice Friday was a clutch of striped shirts gathering under one of the goal posts. A scrimmage? Not according to Coach Les Miles.

"They are here to lend an aura of authenticity," Miles said on the sideline during Thursday's practice.

Miles fought to contain a grin at his own remark and its frank implausibility. And apparently the three referees he brought in that day failed to deliver the verisimilitude Miles sought because on Friday he had a whole compliment of zebras.

It may be another theory - built around Miles' own complaints following each scrimmage the team has held this preseason - explains the proliferation of practice refs:

LSU gets penalized too much. The team led the SEC in penalties last year, and Miles has cited it as an issue several times already in 2008. Almost certainly, the coaches want the refs throwing flags as a more glaring reminder of an area in which the team needs to improve.